Baccala
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John Bubala’s Italian awakening continues with this recasting of Thyme Cafe as BACCALA, a Piedmont-influenced trattoria inspired by Bubala’s 2006 visit to the region as a delegate to Slow Food International’s Terra Madre Conference. Bubala is known for his rigorous sourcing of local ingredients, here manifested in a short menu of simple, deeply satisfying dishes prepared along northern Italian models. That means meats cooked low and slow, a liberal use of butter as well as olive oil, and more polenta and risotto than pasta. Pork predominates: whether shank, butt, or luscious belly, the high-fat cuts are fully flavored and luxuriantly tender. Same goes for the dino-size beef short ribs and a curveball–lamb tongue in red wine sauce, its heavy richness brightened by grilled fennel, grain mustard, and dried tomatoes. Baccala, the restaurant’s namesake puree of reconstituted salted cod and milk–otherwise known as brandade–comes with chunks of scallop and potato; squid is stuffed with sweet sausage in a rich mascarpone sauce. Pastas are represented by three stuffed varieties, including porcini tortellini in a broth dancing with tiny dice of lardo, a cured lard overlooked here but treasured in Italy. Tables are supplied with plenty of grissini, the long breadsticks that originated in Piedmont, but that’s one gesture toward regionalism I’d rather see sacrificed to a breadbasket–a lot of delicious sauce leaves the table unsopped. There’s a small but well-chosen selection of some two dozen Italian reds and whites, plus four bubblies and ten Goose Island brews. –Mike Sula
Boka
3404 N. Halsted
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos/Rob Warner.
